


nickel in the jar

by offwhxte



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: AU, Druggie Reid, M/M, No BAU in this one, Parent Hotch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-18
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2018-12-31 03:40:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12123756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/offwhxte/pseuds/offwhxte
Summary: spencer gets involved in a sour drugs deal. he wakes up on a porch with a little boy standing over him."Where am I?""15 Pleasant Drive," the boy said, eyebrows scrunching like Spencer was stupid for asking."No. No, I mean state. What state am I in?"The boy frowned, "South Carolina."Spencer's face was blank.





	nickel in the jar

All he could remember was the trip to Lake Mead, the flavor of sour coffee on the way, the easy rhythm of blood against the bass of his car speakers thrumming. On the way to a deal, on the way to a fancy house with orange sconces outside with big, shiny shadow cars in the driveway with big, dull shadow men sitting inside them (with big boxes of the really fancy "good stuff" he'd been searching for since last Fall).

He remembered "not having the money," but that was about it. All he had to work with. 

He felt the pain first, hardly jogging his memory of 15 pairs of steel-toe boots against his torso and neck--and he'd never imagined more pain than a crick in his neck, but this was ridiculous. When he opened his eyes, he felt the warm sunglasses on his face - the glasses that were in his front pocket from the night before - and after a few moments, he was aware of his surroundings and looking up at a 5-year-old body looking down at him curiously.

Spencer went to say something but grimaced at the combined pain of his aching neck and something digging into his back. He glanced down at himself. They had dumped him on someone's damn porch steps. 

"I think I should get my dad," the boy said decidedly. He turned to leave. 

"Hold on," Spencer said gruffly, surprised at his own voice. If he knew that getting his neck kicked in would make him sound like such a man, he would have advised his childhood bullies to aim for his jugular. He held a hand up to stop the kid from moving any further, "Where am I?"

"15 Pleasant Drive," the boy said, eyebrows scrunching like Spencer was stupid for asking. 

"No. No, I mean state. What state am I in?" Spencer paused and dropped his sunglasses lower on his nose, "Are you old enough to know what a state is?"

The boy frowned, "South Carolina."

Spencer's face was blank.

"Do  _you_  know what a state is, sir?"

"Yeah. Could you help me up? I need to go home."

"Where is your home, sir?" The boy asked, grasping onto Spencer's outstretched (and shaky) hands and pulling him to his feet, "Wow, you're skinny."

"Vegas," Spencer said distantly, looking around the pastel suburbia with squinting eyes, "but thanks."

He went to step toward the street, maybe go somewhere and ask to use a phone or jump on a bus, but he heard a gravelly voice behind him, "Jack, what have I told you about strangers?"

"He's from Vegas," Jack said proudly, pointing to Spencer's unsteady form, "He forgot what a state is."

"I know what a state is," Spencer whined, pressing his palm to his ribs and groaning at the sharp pain that shot through his neck like static. He turned to apologize to the man in the doorway, but as soon as he spotted that shock of dark hair and the cautiously loose sweatpants. "Hi, I'm sorry--"

"Are you okay?" The stern dad face melted away as soon as he laid eyes on Spencer's neck and bare arms. "Woah, are you... holy shit."

"Dad!"

"Sorry, go put a nickel in the jar, Jack-Jack," the dad said, not taking his eyes off of the bruised stranger on his porch. Jack sprinted into the house, but the man just lingered in the doorway. 

"I woke up here," Spencer began to explain, but his voice gave out and he placed his hand on his throat uncomfortably. 

"Don't... hurt yourself. Come inside, I'll google how to fix neck injuries."

Spencer would have instructed him if he wasn't in agony. He just blindly stumbled into the bright blue house and wondered if he would be able to leave fast enough to avoid telling the attractive dad why he was in this mess in the first place. 

(Of course, unbeknownst to him, that wouldn't be the case.)

After the dad showed him to the bathroom and gave him some clothes to change into (he definitely smelled like blood and old coffee), Spencer took a shower and focused the warm water on his neck. He didn't want to look down and watch the water turn red. 

This was what he got for trying to use Dilaudid as a damn vice. He should have stuck to alcohol like normal people.

He swiped a hand down the foggy mirror and was almost shocked at his complexion. His neck and the underside of his jaw was a mess of purples and ugly greens, mimicking the galaxy pattern his old boyfriends would wear on t-shirts. He brushed his hands down his chest, feeling guilty for admiring the patterns the boots had left behind. He wondered why he'd been dropped off in South Carolina, sure, though he was thankful that they'd been kind enough to drop him in a nice neighborhood. 

The clothes were ill-fitting, but he appreciated them nonetheless. 

Aaron sat him down in a dining room chair set up in the middle of the living room and told him to sit up as straight as possible. Jack lounged in a La-Z-Boy recliner, squinting and tapping at an iPhone. Spencer grumbled. Kid was too young to have a phone. 

Aaron slowly rotated Spencer's head this way and that, pausing every few minutes to check his phone to see if he was doing it right. Spencer would have said something about how strange everything was but he was in a world of pain, and the strangeness factor was probably well known by everyone in the house by that point. Plus he'd never turned down a handsome man before.

"You're from Vegas?" Aaron asked between apologies after Spencer hissed. He quickly handed the brunette a warm pack. 

"Mhm," Spencer hummed. He closed his eyes and desperately wished he could sleep as he pressed the pack against the worst spot of pain. 

"Jack-Jack said you're from Vegas?" Aaron said, dropping onto the couch and looking at him expectantly, "Why'd you come here?"

"I..." Spencer made a face, "I don't know if I can answer that question. I woke up on your porch."

"So you were unconscious on the trip." Aaron stared at him for awhile, "Was it...?"

Spencer stared back, "What?"

The stare-off didn't last long, but it didn't have to. Spencer knew what that look was. That was the look people had when they saw him duck into alleys with crumpled bills in his hand. It had only happened once or twice, but it still stung. 

"His uncle was the same," Aaron said plainly. He was certainly back to being a dad. Spencer nodded through the pain. Jack didn't look up from the phone. "None of that shit in the house."

"Nickel in the jar!" Jack hopped up and ran into the kitchen. 

"I wouldn't... I'm not..." Spencer hardly wanted to make this man think less of him. "I'm not hooked."

Aaron didn't answer. He simply asked Jack, when he returned, to show Spencer to the guest room. Spencer told him that he could just sleep on the couch, but Aaron reminded him that his neck was in no condition to sleep on an uncomfortable sofa. He was silently grateful. 

Jack must have toured people through the house many times in the past because he basically recited each room name and purpose as they passed. "And there's my room, it has lots of Legos in it but you aren't allowed in there unless I say you're allowed in there."

"Yeah, I figured," Spencer scoffed. 

"That's Dad's room," Jack said, pointing to a bright blue door with a silver door handle. "Definitely don't go in there. Unless you have a nightmare, but you still gotta knock."

Spencer eyed the door as they passed. Jack introduced him to a few more rooms, but he wasn't listening. Finally, Jack tugged on his sleeve and pulled him into the guest room. 

"This is gonna be your room. When you come up with your rule, tell me," Jack said. 

"I don't think I'll be staying here long enough to make rules," Spencer said quietly. He looked around the blue room and sighed. "I'll tell you, though."

Jack placed his hands on his hips and looked up at Spencer, "You shouldn't do drugs anymore."

Spencer scoffed. Of _course_  the kid knew what was happening. "Don't worry, I won't."

-

After an hour or two of trying to fall asleep and being interrupted by jolts of searing pain, Spencer gave up and slid out of the bed. He straightened his shirt around his torso before edging toward the door, turning the knob as slowly as possible. 

He prayed that they had coffee in the house. If they didn't, he might actually die.

Luckily, in addition to spotting a coffee maker when he turned into a kitchen, he saw Aaron hunched over his own mug of coffee with what could only be described as a 'worryingly thoughtful look.' Spencer wondered if he should go back to the room, but ultimately decided against it.

"...Hi stranger," Spencer said carefully, not wanting to scare him.

Aaron jumped and turned to look at him, "Oh, hey."

"Didn't mean to scare you," Spencer said. He stepped in and pointed to the mug, "It alright if I grab some?"

"One of the less life-threatening addictions," Aaron said sourly before shaking his head, "Sorry, I didn't..."

"No, I got it," he replied calmly, placing his hand on the back of his neck as he maneuvered toward the coffee maker. "I don't plan on continuing my use, though I'm pretty sure if I hadn't been beaten up and shipped across the nation I wouldn't have stopped--"

"Am I a bad dad for letting a stranger into the house when he obviously does drugs?" Aaron asked, turning his head just slightly but not looking at him. 

Spencer paused in his coffee selecting, "It's not bad parenting from my perspective. Of course, I'm biased."

Aaron smiled warily.

"But," Spencer continued, closing the lid of the maker, "I know that I'm very thankful for your hospitality. And I worry for your son's overwhelming self-awareness."

"He's a compulsive googler."

"So are you," Spencer squinted at the machine, "Which of these makes the coffee? This is too technological for me."

"Blue one. And I'm pretty sure it's hereditary," Aaron stood upright and pivoted to look at him, "Your voice is a lot higher than it was earlier."

"Is that bad?" Spencer asked, keeping his eyes away. He didn't feel like crying in front of the handsome guy who extended his generosity to him. That would be embarrassing.

"No. You're not as scary, now," Aaron replied.

Spencer scoffed, but it was mostly a sigh of relief. "Jack certainly wasn't scared of me."

"He never is. He's fearless," Aaron shook his head, "I lost count of the times I've had to explain that he shouldn't approach or talk to strangers. He just loves making friends."

"That's not a bad quality. Though I did worry about his judgment, just standing over an unconscious stranger that ended up on his porch."

"Yeah, I was worried too. But I might have panicked when I saw the state of you," Aaron grimaced, "What happened?"

"I was going to try the good stuff. My ex said it was to die for, but I didn't know that if I was a dollar short they'd get me a hell of a lot closer to death," Spencer tapped his fingers on the linoleum as he watched his mug fill. "Stupid. I was stupid."

"My brother did the same, but he had enough," Aaron nodded.

Spencer frowned, "Is that why Jack knows so much about...?"

"He came by once, screaming about money. Took about a thousand dollars," the older man shrugged like it was nothing but he was curling in on himself. "Jack asked some questions, I answered them. That's what parenting is."

"He's a smart kid," Spencer said quietly. He picked up the mug and joined Aaron against the island. Aaron tossed some packets of sugar to him, and Spencer smiled gratefully. "You should be proud."

"I am. I'm not too proud of myself right now, but I didn't see any guns on you and you haven't screamed at us, so I don't think you're anything like my brother."

"I don't think I've screamed in my life," Spencer admitted.

"Well, there's always time," Aaron told him, a bit more serious than he intended. 

Spencer just nodded.

"I'll take you to the ER in the morning," Aaron told him, pouring his coffee out in the sink. "I should probably go to sleep."

"Alright. Thanks again," the brunette said. He took a sip of coffee as Aaron disappeared around the corner. 

-

Spencer hadn't been in an ER for a long time. Last time was for an allergic reaction in fourth grade, and even then, it wasn't as scary as it was now. He hated the feeling of chalky rubber gloves, and he hated how cold fingers felt on his neck. The paper gown they dressed him in didn't leave much to the imagination, but thankfully, Aaron wasn't paying too much attention.

Aaron sat in the stiff chair on the other side of the room, biting his fingernails. They were both on edge after dropping Jack off at school and getting strange looks because of Spencer's neck.

"Well," the doctor began after a few examinations and an x-ray, "it could have been a lot worse."

Spencer exhaled. Aaron didn't budge.

"Your spine isn't broken or even fractured. Whoever tried to hurt you isn't very thorough."

"I know," Spencer snorted. He looked over to the x-ray and pointed at it, "Look, Aaron."

"What?" The older man looked as well.

"This is your neck on drugs."

Aaron laughed so hard he snorted.

"How long until I'm good to move back home?" Spencer asked, pulling his (well, Aaron's) shirt over his head with a bit of difficulty. 

"I'd say, according to your information," the doctor glanced back at the chart, "A month at the least."

Spencer's mouth fell open. Aaron just stood and said, "Thanks so much, we appreciate it."

The walk from the waiting room to the car was silent, but as soon as the car doors slammed behind them, Spencer couldn't hold it in anymore. 

"You don't have to let me stay," Spencer said quickly before Aaron could say the words. "I can get a bus or go find another place."

Aaron wrapped his fingers around the steering wheel and sighed before dropping his hands and turning to Spencer, "Are you saying that because you want to find another place to stay or because you think I want you to go?"

Spencer frowned, "I thought..."

"I don't want you to go."

"Okay," Spencer sighed. "I don't want to either. I just thought I'd offer. Just in case."

"Just know," Aaron said, his face stern, "As soon as you do something to make me think you're not safe to be around my son, I will kick you out faster than a toupee in a hurricane."

Spencer smiled and nodded, much to the chagrin of his own body. "Thank you."

Aaron smiled back, his hard outer shell melting away, "Alright. You're stuck with us for awhile."

"I should probably figure out what my room rules are going to be."

Aaron laughed. "I don't know where he got that."

"He's controlling. Must also be hereditary."

Aaron glared at him. "Don't make me reconsider my hospitality."

Spencer turned on the radio in response. 

-

By the time Jack had gotten home, Aaron and Spencer had watched three different films and gotten frighteningly close to kissing at one point, but they would probably avoid talking about that for a day or two. Jack stood in the doorway after being dropped off by the bus and held up his index finger and loudly declared that he was going to go do his homework. Spencer looked at Aaron with wide eyes, but he just rolled his eyes and let the boy go up to his room. 

It only took a few seconds for Jack to reappear at the end of the hallway with hunched shoulders. "Spencer, will you help me?"

Spencer did a double take, "Me?"

"Yes," Jack said with a wanton look. 

"O-okay, um..." He stood and brushed off his jeans. "What kind of homework is it?"

Jack visibly shivered, "Science."

"I love science!" Spencer walked over and Jack (with a wide smile on his face) turned and ran toward his room. Spencer quickly followed. It took hardly five minutes for the work to be finished, but they stayed in there for an hour, Spencer introducing Jack to the different kinds of experiments he liked to do. Jack liked them because Spencer would mutter bad words while putting things together, and he was itching to go put some coins in the swear jar. Spencer knew he'd get a kick out of that.

After Jack had fallen asleep later that night, Spencer walked into the living room and watched Aaron play a game on his phone for a little bit before sighing loud enough for the older man to hear, "I'm truly sorry for intruding here."

Aaron shook his head, throwing an arm over the back of the couch to look at him, "I don't mind continuing this bad parent streak for awhile longer."

Spencer couldn't contain his smile, launching himself over the back of the sofa and settling in underneath Aaron's arm.


End file.
